Monthly Archives: February 2003

Since the beginning of the year, I’ve been wondering what position England’s Conservative Party would take with respect to war with Iraq. On the one hand, ideological considerations suggested that the Tories would back Tony Blair. However, with British public opinion opposing war and Blair’s popularity shrinking accordingly, political considerations seemed to militate in favor of a more cynical stance. England’s own Andrew Sullivan proudly reports that principle has prevailed »

Mark Steyn administers justice to the invidious platitudes peddled by Zbig. B. and B.S. in the Wall Street Journal last week: “Thinking the unthinkable in the Middle East.” COMMENT by Hindrocket: Mark Steyn is a brilliant and prolific guy. Plus he’s funny. We link to him a lot because he’s always worth reading. But if you don’t read anything else this week, read this column. It is the best short »

On March 2, 1973, the United States Ambassador to Sudan and his deputy were murdered in Khartoum on the direct order of Yasser Arafat. Jim Welsh was the National Security Agency’s Palestinian analyst in Washington who issued an urgent warning intended for the embassy in Khartoum based on electronic intercepts inculpating Arafat and the PLO in the planning for the operation that turned out to be the murder of the »

Debka File reports that the Russians have entered the Iraq diplomatic picture with a proposal, devised by Putin and carried to Saddam last week by former Foreign Minister Yevgeny Primakov. Gerhard Schroeder took a one-day trip to Moscow on Wednesday; Debka says it was to confer with Putin about the Russian proposal. Check out Debka’s article for details of the alleged plan; basically, there would be an internationally-supervised one year »

The Washington Times reports on a recent Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll that asks a question I haven’t seen before: “Do you agree or disagree with the statement, ‘It’s time to get it over with in Iraq and stop the uncertainty’ ?” In response, 56% agreed, and 34% disagreed. In a separate Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll released yesterday, 71% supported “U.S. military action to disarm Iraq and remove Iraqi President Saddam.” »

George Will, too, weighs in on the Estrada filibuster. He both eviscerates the Democrats’ arguments and puts the issue in Constitutional perspective: “If Senate rules, exploited by an anti-constitutional minority, are allowed to trump the Constitution’s text and two centuries of practice, the Senate’s power to consent to judicial nominations will have become a Senate right to require a 60-vote supermajority for confirmations. By thus nullifying the president’s power to »

In the event that you are interested in a summary of the events aboard Flight 93 in connection with Jonathan Last’s piece below, MSNBC has posted an excellent account based on Jere Longman’s research: “Heroes of Flight 93.” »

Reader James Lileks has both a gimlet and an eagle eye. He has kindly written to correct Rocket Man’s attribution to Toles of the wonderful editorial cartoon posted below. Lileks advises us that the cartoon is by the Los Angeles Times editorial cartoonist Michael Ramirez. »

This piece from National Review Online by Victor Davis Hanson argues that “the world, not America, has gone off the deep end — just as it did some 70 years ago when faced with similar choices between cheap rhetoric and real sacrifice.” Hanson finds echoes of 1930s appeasement everywhere, especially in Europe. There, “cranky elites, terrified of trouble, indict on the cheap the democratically elected Mr. Sharon, while the masses »

Charles Krauthammer has a column this morning that wonderfully describes the absurd situation confronting the United States as it attempts to secure passage of an eighteenth Security Council resolution concerning Iraq. He ends the column with proposed reform of the UN and with other ideas to address our strategic position in the light of current events, all of which is far less compelling, but the column is excellent: “A costly »

Country music star Toby Keith performs at the Target Center in Minneapolis tomorrow night. His song “Courtesy of the Red White and Blue” speaks for me and a lot of other Americans. (For that matter, his hilarious song “I Want to Talk About Me” does likewise, though for different reasons.) Jon Bream has a profile of Keith with some interesting dope on “Courtesy” in this morning’s Minneapolis Star Tribune: “Toby »

New York Times reporter Jere Longman has reconstructed the events that took place aboard United Flight 93 when American citizens acting together deliberated briefly under unfathomable pressure and rose to thwart the fourth terrorist attack on 9/11. He tells the story in his book Among the Heroes: United Flight 93 and the Passengers and Crew Who Fought Back. In a class by itself among this morning’s columns is Jonathan Last’s »

On March 1 the Immigration and Naturalization Service will cease to exist. The old INS will be divided into two branches, which may or may not make any difference. President Bush has nominated banker Eduardo Aguirre to head the Department of Homeland Security’s Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, one of the two new organizations. Michelle Malkin is not impressed. Ms. Malkin contacted an INS spokeswoman who assured her that »

As you may recall, I am spending the winter and early spring — maybe late spring too — in Alaska. Hence I am attuned to the fact that the Iditarod, one of the great sporting events of the world, is about to begin. This year the publicity has all been about the fact that unseasonable warmth has forced the start of the race to the north. It has, indeed, been »

As long-time readers know, I am always on the lookout for interesting or amusing graphics to post–occasionally, editorial cartoons. One thing I have learned is that right-leaning cartoonists who are also funny or at least mildly clever are hard to find. This one, by Tole, I blatantly stole from InstaPundit: The rush to war: This cartoon sums it up pretty well. »

To my mild surprise, during the past few months the Washington Post editorial board has weighed in forcefully on the side of taking military action to overthrow Saddam Hussein. We have posted a number of these pieces. The Post’s liberal readers are not amused, however, as is clear from this editorial in which the Post defends itself against charges by readers that it is leading “a jingoistic rush to war.” »